Ancient Egypt

Geography

• Northeastern Africa• Desert• Nile River is 4,100

miles long• Upper Egypt and

Lower Egypt divided by cataracts (rapids)

• The delta empties the Nile into the Mediterranean Sea

Desert = Natural Defense

• All of the cities and villages were found along the Nile

• The Sahara desert to the west and the Arabian desert to the east

• The deserts kept invaders out

Economics of the Nile

• Transportation of goods

• Slow, annual floods

• Silt = Excellent for agriculture– Wheat and barley– Olives and grapes– Irrigation– Sun

Governments Unite

• Small villages eventually united into agricultural districts called nomes

• Each nome had its own specific rituals, gods, and chieftains

• The nomes united into two groups: Upper and Lower Egypt

• King Menes united all of Egypt

Pharaohs

• Dynasty: series of rulers from the same family

• Ancient Egypt has 31 dynasties over 2,800 years

• Pharaoh is head of government, religion, and army.

• Very little turmoil or strife. Why?

Culture in Egypt

• Nobles: governors, generals, tax collectors, and priests– Lived in luxury– Many servants

• Middle class: army, shop keepers and artisans– A little social mobility– scribes

• Peasants: farmers and slaves– Producing food or domestic service– Physical labor during flood season

Religious Practices

• Maat: Justice, truth, right, and order

• Osiris would judge the dead, putting hearts on scale

• The afterlife was really similar to real life

• Priests could influence the gods for you

Religion and afterlife

• Pharaohs ruled after death• People would need to provide for

the eternal comfort of the Pharaoh• Preserving the body ensured the

pharaoh could enter whenever he wanted

First, they draw out the brains through the nostrils with an iron hook…Then

with a sharp stone they make an incision in the side and take out the bowels…Then, having filled the belly

with myrrh and other perfumes…They steep the body in mineral salt water for 70 days…Then they wash the corpse, and wrap the whole body in bandages

of waxen cloth.

The Time of the Pyramids

• Tombs=palaces for dead guys

• Stones weigh 2 ½ tons

• 2 million blocks in each

• All this work, no slaves

• You too could have a career as a grave robber

Make-up!

• Kohl on the eyes, applied with a stick

• Fragrant oils on skin and hair

• Powdered iron ore and oil on lips and cheeks

Culture/Technology

• Writing: Pictographs and ideographs are hieroglyphics– Rosetta stone– Papyrus

• Numbers: assessing and collecting taxes

• Geometry: plots of land and building

• Calendar: planting at the right time

• Medicine: famous doctors– In demand around

the Mediterranean– Reset bones– studies